Okidomari Port & the Ginzan Highway

 

I started day 38 of my walk alog the Chugoku Kannon Pilgrimage at Okidomari, the small port that serviced the Iwami Ginzan silver mines. The port and the mines as well as the road I am taking, the Ginzan Kaido, are all part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For more info on the port and Ginzan Kaido, please see this earlier post.

The next temples on the pilgrimage are a cluster around Izumo. The fastes way would be togo straight up the national highway, route 9, but it would also be the most boring. One of the temples is in the foothills of the Chugoku Mountains, so I have decided to cut inland and head along a mountainous route.

There are still a few houses inhabited in the old harbour village, but less each time I visit.

The Ginzan Kaido heads up through the settlement and then into a  bamboo grove before climbing out.

Not as manicured as the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, but 10,000 percent fewer people....

The previous post was on the last stop of the day before, Kannonji Temple in Gotsu Honmachi

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